Hacking the Museum

The role museums play in our communities is changing, as is what we expect of the museum-going experience. The way we think of these places and the encounters that occur within their walls, or within the domain of their digital spaces, has evolved over the years, fueled in part by digital media. A museum is no longer just a place where one might go to encounter an art exhibition or visit a gallery of historical objects -- increasingly they've become active social hubs that reflect the pulse, interests and concerns of the cities in which they thrive.

This meetup is about "hacking" our expectations and assumptions of what a museum is, what its role is, and how we engage with museums. We'll hear from a wide range of speakers who work inside and outside the museum space, in roles that are both sanctioned by the institutions, or operating completely rogue.

Schedule:

7:00pm – Doors. Mingling over wine and snacks.

7:30-8:30pm – Speaker presentations.

8:30-10:00pm – Conversation continues over more wine!

Speakers:

Sarah Hromack (http://forwardretreat.tumblr.com/) is a strategist, writer, and longtime blogger, with interests in critical museum studies, independent publishing, and contemporary art. She is currently the Director of Digital Media at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she leads the creative development and implementation of institutional initiatives in the digital space. Sarah is also an Adjunct Professor at New York University's Steinhardt School, where she teaches a graduate course titled "Digital Technologies and Arts Organizations: From Strategy to Practice."

Clement Valla (http://clementvalla.com/) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received a BA from Columbia University and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Digital+Media. His work has been featured on BBC television, and recently written about in Elephant, Dazed and Confused, Time Magazine, the Huffington Post, Wired, boingboing, the Guardian, Liberation, and El Pais. He has had a recent solo exhibition at Mulherin + Pollard Projects in New York, and has been included in numerous group exhibitions including CAM Raleigh, Bitforms Gallery and 319 Scholes among others. He has spoken at institutions including the DIA Center for the Arts, Duke University, and Brown University. He is currently an associate professor of Graphic Design at RISD.

Tiya Gordon directs operations while developing and producing individual projects for Local Projects (http://localprojects.net/about/). Her showcased work includes the permanent media installation of close to 60 custom films and interactive exhibits for the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia as well as the full media design and production for the upcoming National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City. Prior to joining Local Projects, Tiya worked as a Media Producer for the American Museum of Natural History where she designed and executed media installations for the museum’s permanent halls as well as international traveling exhibitions. Her work has received awards and recognition from The New York Academy of Sciences, The Cannes Film Festival, AIGA, Core77, The American Association of Museums, ResFest, MIT, CINE and I.D. among others. She graduated from Parsons the New School for Design where she currently teaches in the Communication Design and Technology Program.

Keeli Shaw, Interactive Project Manager at Local Projects, has produced interactive projects ranging in scale from mobile applications to 40′ interactive multi-touch walls. At Local Projects, she has overseen the design and development of projects including the BMW/Guggenheim Lab, the Stone Barns iOS application and the recently launched Gallery One suite of interactive media for the Cleveland Museum of Art. Keeli comes to Local Projects from the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where as Production Manager for the Collections Information & Access Department she managed the production of all interactive media for the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. She is pursuing a Masters at NYU / Steinhardt School of Eduction in non-profit arts management and earned her B.A. in political science and art history from UC Berkeley.

Mark Rosen is the Creative Director and Chief Hacker of Museum Hack (http://www.museumhack.com/about/), a non-traditional private tour company shaking up the visitor experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Museum Hack crafts “un-highlights” tours that meld hidden objects and stories with purposeful antics that encourage visitors to approach museums in new ways. The company strives to break the modes of conventional museum experience and inspire visitors to hunt for resonance and walk away from their Museum Hack experience excited about building new relationships with museums. Mark holds an MA in Museology from the University of Washington and a BA in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin and has worked for a wide variety of institutions including Dia: Beacon, the Seattle Art Museum, The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.